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Hikin' Stehekin |
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Cleo leads the way along the Lakeshore Trail. We are all looking for Clarence... |
Hiking Day Two Late Monday morning, after a good night's rest to recover from the frenetic day prior, when we all had to rush to catch the boat, all were feeling fine, except Durango, who had wrenched his back carrying the heavy load of someone's excessive luggage. Despite his excruciating pain, Durango joined everyone on a hike on the Lakeshore Trail. The trail is very well built, with great views of Lake Chelan, a lake which resembles Utah's Lake Powell in its stunning clarity and deep blueness.
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Durango beats a stick to enforce a steady marching cadence... |
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Hiking Day Three
Prissy guided Wanda and Durango towards the Imus Creek Trailhead. Part way there, we met Keith walking quite jauntily down the road. He had hiked several miles up the Purple Pass Trail, but finally it got too steep. Prissy went back to the Lodge with Keith, leaving Durango and Wanda on their own to hike the demanding Imus Creek Trail. |
 Cleo looks fetching in her hiking togs midway up the Purple Pass Trail. It is a very steep trail. 8 miles with over 5000 feet elevation gain!
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High above Lake Chelan on the Imus Creek Nature Trail Durango conducts a Nature Seminar for all who would listen... |
 STEHEKIN
BEARS |
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 A group portraitat the Summit of Purple Pass |
Wanda and Durango were quite sure the Purple Pass hikers would not make it back to Stehekin in time to catch that night's bus to the Stehekin Valley Ranch. But it was known the hikers were strongly motivated to hike fast, because this was our last dinner, and the Courtney women were fixin' to make lasagna. |
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 Eddie with an unidentified female at the Purple Pass Summit |
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Stehekin Bears | Stehekin Hiking | Stehekin Eating
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Rainbow Falls!
We had pedaled our bikes right by it. Rainbow Falls is just a short
distance off the Valley Road, and then a short hike from the bike-ban
zone.
Clarence had been pushing
for a mega-hike. Keith and Prissy wanted nothing to do with that.
Durango's back hurt. Wanda just wanted to relax. So Wally, Eddie, Clarence
and Cleo took off, with Purple Pass as their destination. Durango and
Wanda sat around enjoying our morning bakery assortment. And then the
carbo-loading energized even our slothness. We decided to hike the Imus
Creek Nature Trail after Prissy came back and gave us a glowing report.
And after she told us that Keith had followed the main hikers up the
Purple Pass Trail! 
back at Stehekin Landing
by 5:15 to make the dinner bus. Wanda and Durango were certain they
would not make it. We decided we would go to the Stehekin Valley Ranch
for lasagna and not worry about the hikers. At ten minutes before 5,
Eddie showed up. He had been running, he said the others were, maybe, a
mile back. Eddie seemed a bit delirious. He told us to hold the bus. As
if we could. Or would. He also told us that Cleo had stepped on a
Rattlesnake. At one point on the steep climb down she thought she
stepped on a stick, then the stick moved, then she realized it was a
snake! It was not very big, and because of the cold temperatures 
the snake moved slowly. It slithered off the trail,
turning to look at the startled hikers and to shake it's rattle.
